Odds of winning

a bet in roulette, can be in your favor, if you bet right.
Before you tell me that this is the BJ page, I already know that. A poster(4Arimes) said that he used roulette, as cover play. We all do play other games from time to time. I totaly agree, we should know as much as we can about the other games. If for no other reason, to be able to tell someone with you (a newbie) how they work, when they ask you and they will ask. After thirty years of going to casinos, I can tell anyone how to play most any game they have and I am sure most of you can too. I can tell a first time slot player how to make their money last longer. Other games can make good cover, if not done to excess.
In other words, don't play one hour of BJ and four hours of slots and call it cover. If you do, dude, you are a slot player with a BJ cover.....

P.S.---If anyone wants the roulette bet. E-mail me, it's free and you can have some fun with it.
Luck-2-U
Midnite
Midnite

There are ways to make bets at the craps tables and at the roulette wheel that give you a better than even chance of winning something, but that is only part of the equation. What must also be computed is the total return when compared to the total amount wagered. If that return is something less than the true odds, then it is still a negative expectation bet and no matter how you figure it, it is still a loser.

The number of times you win isn't what matters, it is what you get paid when compared to what you bet.

You are right Boot. Spoken like a true pro. Roulette was just an example. I was not claiming that you can beat roulette. (you can't) You can get odds of 52.63%, that you will win the next bet. You can even win money with it, "IF" you stop the very "first" time you lose. No more roulette, for the rest of the trip. As long as you are winning, keep playing. Just a fun little bet. If you do not have the discipline to stop (after the fist loss) don't start.
Midnite

You could do even better than that. Bet a unit on 34 numbers and you have almost a 90% chance of winning a unit (assuming a double-zero). The downside of course, is that 10% of the time you 34 units.
If you used some kind of stop-loss in conjunction with this method you can do even better obviously.

(Progressionists et al don't be tempted to try this, you will lose very quickly indeed)

Can you please explain how, absence a bias wheel or use of a computer, you can ever get an advantage bet in Roulette? Ever?

Own a casino. :-)

and then place your bet. Works every time and you may get comped for a free stay at the vertical bar hotel.

Well...as of late it`s a little hobby of your beloved Syph.

Advantage roulette play may be possible, however...there are so many variables involved that it takes a very dedicated individual to exploit them

Deflectors, slots, ball design, dealer signatures, and cross-over
patterns for visual tracking, are a few.

A few pointers:

-This, by no means, is a complete checklist-

1) Create a histogram for drop off points of the wheel.
2) Clock the rotation speed of the wheel
3) Visually reference the crossover pattern in the section before the drop off segment.
4) Note the wheel number as it passes the middle deflector in this section
5) Use this number as a reference for the final resting place of the ball.
6) Place your bet in the appropriate section(s).

You have about 2 seconds.

This may work assuming there is a micro-imbalace creating a relative drop off point, deep pockets, low deflectors, a consistent dealer, and a few other odds and ends.

Dealer signatures might be used in conjuction with this method, or possibly as an alternative, however...your mileage may vary.

For further elaboration and such, please check out Pawlicki`s "Get the Edge in Roulette." If advantage roulette play is possible, I can think of no better source.

Hopes this helps,

Syph

A computer is not required to get an advantage over the casinos. Pawlicki is a student of Laurance Scott, who sold a roulette prediction method through RGE some years ago. He outlines methods to gauge ball and rotor velocity and determine the rough final resting position of the ball.
Such methods are difficult to learn but some individuals can do it. Thorp's comment on the subject-" Approximate human calculations can yield an advantage of 15% or more."

The Pawlicki book is well worth reading, the best roulette book since Barnhart's "Beating the wheel".

There are 36 numbers on a roulette wheel, plus 0 and 00. A total of 38 numbers. If you place a dollar, on twenty numbers (can be done in three moves, not twenty) you now have 20 chances to win and the house has 18. You have a 52.63% chance, that the little ball will land on one of your numbers.
The rub is you win back your 20, plus 16. You don't bet 20 and win 40.
You risk 20 to win 16.

Midnite

Okay,you get 20 chances to win 16 -> 20*16 = 320
and there are 18 chances to lose 20 -> 18*-20=-360
So you lose 40 bucks per 38 trials or roughly 1$ per trial.
This is not surprisingly a 5%-edge for the casino.

Francis Salmon

It does not meet my definition of an advantage bet. Get serious.

Francis is right. I said you have a 52.63 % chance of winning the bet, NOT a 52.63 % chance of winning money. We were talking cover play. Most counters do not play roulette. If you are in a shoe game and the count just went south and the PB and roulette table are both close by.... Now may be the time for a cover play.
"Mark my spot, I'm going to give roulette a try"
Make sure PB hears.
If they have 50 cent roulette, you can do it for ten bucks.(could cost many times that, to finish up a negative shoe) You can only take so many bathroom breaks and can only sit out so many shoes. As I said, you are only going to do it one time. One spin win or lose. Then back to the game. If you win, fine. Let them know. "won at roulette, now my luck has changed" Lose, fine. Let them know." Man, I just can't win today" Some people don't seem to understand cover play, at all.
This is just one of many things you can do.
Midnite

I understand the need for cover but if you are showing some ingenuity on the roulette table... won't that single you out as an advantage player and possibly suggest that you also have an advantage in BJ.

Better still, I think that instead of thinking the felt is always greener on the other side of the pit... so to speak... or something like that.... why not just concentrate on the game that has been proven to be beatable? I saw a man once playing BJ on a 6 deck shoe. Everytime the dealer shuffled he stood up and threw a couple small denomination coins in the slot machine directly behind him... What a great example of cover... what did it cost him? practically nothing... got to stand up for a minute between deals and threw the heat off at the same time... and if every now and then he wins a buck or two back, at least he knows where the real action is.